Kaduna Peace Pitch Project - FCT Kaduna

Introduction

Community leaders in Kaduna, Nigeria, are leading a cross community development project centred on unifying groups through sport. A field used within the Romi community will be developed into a community centre. This space will be used for sporting activities such as tournaments, training and matches bringing Kaduna’s young people together. It will also be used for cultural and religious ceremonies where factions from different belief systems can come together. This project is aimed at combating the negative effects of unemployment such as idleness, feelings of abandonment which make youth more susceptible to violence or to find incentives in the informal economy. The community centre will peacefully bring different stakeholders together and use sport as the medium to transform dialogue into being more inclusive.
The Romi community in Kaduna is in critical need of improving sporting facilities for its development. With the extreme richness of Nigeria, opportunities for young people are scarce creating youth unemployment. Creating opportunities and focus for young people is, therefore, an instrument for ensuring that violence, deprivation, and neglect do not ensue.

Currently, early morning weekend football training by the adults and a series of training and matches by different football clubs and other sporting activities that always attract mass spectators indicating that almost 60% of Romi people are sports enthusiasts.

The pitch is, therefore, more than a sporting hub, it’s a space that reduces tensions and transcends community differences. The field serves as a social centre, where in addition to football training and tournaments, ceremonies, cultural festivals, physical exercise, and other sporting activities by students of public and private schools are hosted. For instance ‘Boys Brigade’ use it for their parades, exercises and ceremonies.

Currently, however, this centre is a sand field owned by the Boy’s Brigade of Nigeria, which is located between residential houses, behind the Command Military Secondary School.

The conditions are arduous, prone to causing health issues for young players who are constantly surrounded by dust, and the lack of fencing and cover has generated disputes between the footballers and the property owners.
The importance of this field for the community will result in a youth collaboration to maintain ownership and sustainability of peace.

Aims

  1. Improve mental well-being, and provide safe and physical health security for participants
  2. Create a cross-community peace hub, where cooperation is fostered and where the Romi community can build networks with surrounding communities
  3. Promote skills and talent in the community and give youth participant an outlet

Goals

  1. A peaceful and serene environment as a result of relationship-building among beneficiaries
  2. Create peaceful negotiation training through the workshop, leadership sessions, and tolerance sessions at the centre, Counselling the youths to immerse themselves in a culture of tolerance and reconciliation.
  3. Conducive environment for sporting activities, with pitch, fencing and indoor space for community activities
  4. Developed football centre model in place, training coaches, managers, and school proprietors.
The need for sporting facilities is clear and we need your help. Given community tensions and faith-based conflict in Nigeria, celebrating and securing spaces that introduce norms of cooperation is essential. The Romi community have been able to foster this, and spread that, members of the Romi community from all faiths and ethnicity can come together and can learn the fundamentals of teamwork through sport.
Project ceremonies, cultural festivals and exercise will create a place of joy in the community, where positive messages of coming together can be upheld.
UK research has shown that sports programmes reduce antisocial behaviour which can arise, partly due to lack of opportunity. Given the rising violence in Nigeria inherently tied with high youth unemployment, it is necessary that inclusive and peaceful places be protected and invested in.
Help the Kaduna team make this filed their new cross-community peaceful sports centre.